The present invention relates to the field of paper manufacturing. More particularly, the present invention relates to the manufacture of absorbent tissue products such as bath tissue, facial tissue, napkins, towels, wipers, and the like. Specifically, the present invention relates to improved fabrics used to manufacture absorbent tissue products having background regions optionally bordered by decorative elements, methods of tissue manufacture, methods of fabric manufacture, and the actual tissue products produced thereby.
In the manufacture of tissue products, particularly absorbent tissue products, there is a continuing need to improve the physical properties and final product appearance. It is generally known in the manufacture of tissue products that there is an opportunity to mold a partially dewatered cellulosic web on a papermaking fabric specifically designed to enhance the finished paper product's physical properties. Such molding can be applied by fabrics in an uncreped through-air dried process as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,672,248 or in a wet pressed tissue manufacturing process as disclosed U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,859. Wet molding typically imparts desirable physical properties independent of whether the tissue web is subsequently creped, or an uncreped tissue product is produced.
However, absorbent tissue products are frequently embossed in a subsequent operation after their manufacture on the paper machine, while the dried tissue web has a low moisture content, to impart consumer preferred visually appealing textures or decorative lines. Thus, absorbent tissue products having both desirable physical properties and pleasing visual appearances often require two manufacturing steps on two separate machines. Hence, there is a need for a single step paper manufacturing process that can provide the desired visual appearance and product properties. There is also a need to develop a paper manufacturing process that not only imparts visually discernable pattern and product properties, but which does not affect machine efficiency and productivity.
Previous attempts to combine the above needs, such as those disclosed in International Application Nos. PCT/US13/72220, PCT/US13/72231 and PCT/US13/72238 have utilized through-air drying fabrics having a pattern extruded as a line element onto the fabric. The extruded line element may form either discrete or continuous patterns. While such a method can produce textures, extrusion techniques are limited in the types of lines that may be formed resulting in reduced permeability of the through-air drying fabric. The reduced permeability in-turn decreases drying efficiency and negatively affects tissue machine efficiency and productivity.
As such, there remains a need for articles of manufacture and methods of producing tissue products having visually discernable patterns with improved physical properties without losses to tissue machine efficiency and productivity.